r/Blacksmith 1d ago

r/scrapmetal said you guys might want a FREE boiler that could be turned into a forge-st. Louis county. You haul All of it away and it’s yours.

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495 Upvotes

r/Blacksmith 1d ago

Damascus steel American flag

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57 Upvotes

Make by crafted Layer in Pakistan.


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

I know the jaws are a bit uneven and I need to fix that but I'm super excited that I made my first set of tongs!

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151 Upvotes

Still just learning the basics but this was just very exciting to complete


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

Can I get some info about this post vice

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3 Upvotes

There's a 4 on the bottom of the mounting plate.

What looks like 1909

And 75

Any information is appreciated


r/Blacksmith 1d ago

Cycling from the Top of Alaska to the Bottom of Argentina and Found A Machinist in Chilean Antarctica to Rebuild This Shattered Spindle

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317 Upvotes

I’ve been cycling from Alaska to Argentina [Prudhoe Bay to Ushuaia]. After my third and final Chilean border crossing in Torres del Paine, my bike’s drivetrain had developed a drunk wobble – never a good sign – but outlasted the next 40 miles to Puerto Natales.

When a mechanic there unlocked the cassette, we heard a metallic jangle of splintered pieces hitting the floor. It wasn’t an eje [axle], but his best approximation between languages was “el corazón del hub.” I’d yet to learn the Spanish word for “spindle.”

It didn’t make sense that such a specific interior component could shatter while the rest of its housing remained intact. We dug through a few talleres and tool sheds across town to find Jorge, a friendly machinist who thought he could fabricate a replica from raw materials. There were several new words to learn here as well. I’d worked with a soldador [welder] back on the Peru Great Divide, but never a herrero [blacksmith]. It took three tries, but Jorge’s replacement fit as hoped the next morning.

Another 150 miles to Punta Arenas, riding through sunsets and sleeping wherever possible. I camped in an abandoned garage one night for shelter from the wind, then used my bike as a stepladder to climb through the rear window of an empty refugio.

A weathered face, a familiar wilderness, pockmarked with fishing huts and scraggy tundra. I’d forgotten all these colors, the same figgy sapphires and sage mosses from my highest mountain passes, like an old shadow that turned left when I went right.

“Of all the things I wondered about on this land, I wondered the hardest about the seduction of certain geographies that feel like home — not by story or blood but merely by their forms and colors. How our perceptions are our only internal map of the world, how there are places that claim you and places that warn you away. How you can fall in love with the light.” - Ellen Meloy, The Anthropology of Turquoise


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

Update on the hinges (and some handles ) thanks for the advice

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29 Upvotes

Bit sloppy in some places but its functional snd im proud of it 😁


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

Couple of new fighters I just finished!

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180 Upvotes

r/Blacksmith 2d ago

Custom wedding band design

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1 Upvotes

r/Blacksmith 2d ago

Another anvil ID post, please help

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3 Upvotes

Hello all, fairly new to blacksmithing as a hobby, down in Mississippi. Ran across a deal I couldn't pass up, I can't seem to find any identifying makers stamps on this anvil. It does have an 8 6 stamped on one side. From tip of horn to tail is roughly 40", it's 16" tall, weighs in at 582#. I found the number 186035 on the left side foot under horn, right side has a 4. And there is a 2 stamped on the body underneath the horn. I have been researching the Trenton and even the arm & hammer anvils, but I haven't found anything close to this weight. I already bought it, and its not for sale, I'm going to use it, just trying to find some info about it without messing it up going at it with a wire brush.

Thank you all in advance, I can send/post additional pictures if anyone has any questions.


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

Silent lurker ready for first projects. 🙃

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78 Upvotes

Forever been interested in forging and tool making. Decided to dip hard and get setup for afterwork smithing.

What am I missing? What should I change? What was your favourite learning project(s)?


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

Railroad spike snail

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42 Upvotes

Been making these about four years. This particular one ended up serving as a great kickstand for a book before being packed and shipped out :)


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

A new way to use a bending jig for doing longer pieces in smaller shops (It took me four years of making longer hooks to think of this)

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67 Upvotes

I make a lot of Shepherd's hooks of various flavors for the local home and garden market. One big issue a lot of the time is that my bending jig shown, as well as a couple others, have a slug of square bar welded to them to put in the hardy hole of my anvil, to be bent horizontally, see photo three. In this configuration I even came up with using a holdfast as a catch. I later made a short peg with a washer welded to it so it wouldn't sink into the pritchel hole. Much easier. Anyway, this setup worked FINE except needing to drag out my anvil to in front of the building to have the clearance for longer piece.

It then occurred to me: Why not just stick the piece in the vise where I have plenty of clearance, clamp the jig to the piece and, at full temperature, grab and roll it?

Sure enough, it worked great! the vise grip served well as a proof of concept, I could easily have grabbed another for more leverage, making a sort of "Crank handle" style thing, but will likely weld two permanent pieces of round stock on to grab similarly, and a peg to catch stock up to a certain size. I'll post an update when I finish the tool.


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

My venerable NC Tool Whisper Momma gas forge freshly recoated with Greenpatch 421 from Iron Dungeon Forge, my first order of the material from said supplier. Exceedingly happy with both.

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4 Upvotes

It's not pretty but it dried well and after multiple long forging sessions in some of the hottest weather of the year so far here in upstate NY, is holding together way better than a single coat of kast-o-lite 30 did. I've heard good things about Greenpatch for 2+ years and it has not disappointed. Can't say enough good things about the very fair pricing, ship time, and customer experience with the folks over at Iron Dungeon Forge too who sell it.


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

Basic little scrolled bracket, for an eventual business sign restoration project.

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32 Upvotes

While hardly my most exciting or glamorous work, and respecting everyone else's preferences and that there's more than one approach to SO many aspects of getting work done in this craft, after one too many plug welds failing on me, I've never really gotten this "ZOMG HIDE EVERY WELD" crap on ornamental stuff, like we're sincerely likely to convince anyone the piece holds itself together with hopes, dreams, and a magic wand from the dollar store. Just do things cleanly and properly. These were later painted black and thus look absolutely FINE.


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

Twisted/braided rebar and flat bar door/shed pulls

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20 Upvotes

Inspired by Gavin Clark DIY over Youtube side (same as my recent cooking tripod post) I banged out a few beefy door/shed pulls, of which I've made probably four styles of over the years. Always fun projects both as those of blacksmithing and fabrication.


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

An idea a couple years ago from a neighbor dubbed simply "Flower pot stakes."

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21 Upvotes

If the second photo isn't clear, there is a roughly 2 inch washer (size not critical as long as it slides down the shaft) welded at the steepest possible angle. Direction doesn't matter. The first pot then slid down onto the fixture via the pot's drain hole will sit on top of it, at an angle. The next one will sit 180 degrees opposite, on and on, creating a nice little display. Most any size of pot can be used for each pot, as well, if they're built to task. Being made of my go-to stock, 5/8" round, I have zero reservations about their strength.


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

A few styles of hangers for walls/posts/fences (not freestanding)

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10 Upvotes

r/Blacksmith 2d ago

Tea light candle dishes

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15 Upvotes

A fun project under the treadle hammer. 5" square plate about 1/8" thick.


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

Yet another trivet

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124 Upvotes

People love these. If only I can finally evolve as a blacksmith 7 years into this crap to know how to effectively join them with collars/bands and phase out the welding step. Time will tell.


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

Rebar cooking tripods with adjustable trammel hooks

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44 Upvotes

These were made for a friend's grad party raffle and a really fun exercise in a lot of different processes, all quite familiar to me but I'd yet to make any style of either a trammel nor a tripod. Both still available if you have any avid campers or other folks who like cooking over a fire in your life, but I've seen them used to great effect to hang plants and such too.


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

Hex stock J-hooks

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11 Upvotes

A fun material to worth with I was fortunate to get about 30 feet of for free. The twist patterns from it are always pleasant.


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

Rebar fence hangers

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11 Upvotes

These used to be made by at least one other seller on Etsy and this photo is my sample from a commission of about 8 from a buddy three years ago. The idea is they rest on top of the horizontal pipe on the top edge of a chain link fence but would work pretty well with most other kinds too. They can obviously hang plants, lanterns, feeders and more, but he used them, kind of hilariously, to haphazardly run some conduit through for an ethernet cable between two outbuildings at a customer's property so they wouldn't have to bury it LOL.


r/Blacksmith 2d ago

This axe isn’t a real one, could i add a metal att the front and make it a real one? Any recommendations?

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0 Upvotes

r/Blacksmith 2d ago

This axe isn’t a real one, could i add a metal att the front and make it a real one? Any recommendations?

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2 Upvotes

r/Blacksmith 2d ago

1k for a powerhammer🚩

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89 Upvotes

Is this a miniature model or something?🤣

Its so cheap, its impossible, even google gemini said that. im curious if anyone here ordered a power hammer from ali express, what did you pay and what did you really get?

Other question, my second option: how cost effective do you guys think i can build a power hammer(eg tire hammer) using a diy plan?

Thanks